CHAPTER 360: CHAPTER-360.

With a jolt, Kaya woke up. As her eyes adjusted, she saw that Cutie, Sparrow, and Veer had just entered the room. When they saw her awake, they looked surprised and quickly walked over to her.

"Are you okay?" Cutie asked, his voice tight with concern.

Kaya rubbed her forehead, still disoriented from the nightmare. She frowned. "When did you guys come?"

They looked at each other. "Just now," Cutie replied.

Veer sat down beside her on the bed, reaching out to touch her forehead. He wiped the sweat from her face with his hand, his expression worried. "Are you okay? You don’t look okay. Did you have a nightmare? Are you fine? Are you hurt?" The questions tumbled out at rapid speed.

Kaya frowned slightly at the barrage. "I’m fine."

She looked around the room and noticed it was slightly cooler than before—her makeshift cooling system had worked. Then her gaze shifted to Sparrow, who had just landed at the window. Chirp, chirp, chirp. He had a small bundle clutched in his hand.

Kaya stared at him, her eyebrow slowly rising. She was controlling her anger—barely. She’d sent this idiot out in the morning to get lemons, and he was only now returning as evening turned to night.

She looked at him with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. "Oh, are you back so soon?"

Sparrow nodded enthusiastically, puffing out his feathers with pride and raising his head like he’d just completed the most important mission in the world.

Kaya’s smile twitched. "So soon," she repeated, her voice dangerously sweet. "You left this morning. It’s almost night now."

Sparrow blinked, still proud, completely oblivious to the storm brewing in her eyes.

Veer coughed, trying to hide a laugh. Cutie just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What took you so long?" Kaya asked, her voice calm but edged with steel.

Sparrow chirped again and held up the bundle like it was a trophy.

As Kaya looked at the bundle, her eyelid twitched. She looked at Sparrow and asked through gritted teeth, "Mr. Bird. What did I ask for?"

Hearing the dangerous change in her tone, Sparrow tilted his head and chirped uncertainly.

Kaya nodded slowly, her smile frozen. "Yeah. LEMON!" Her voice rose. "And what did you bring?"

She gestured at the table where green mangoes and green olives sat in a sad little pile. Not a single lemon in sight.

Kaya could not believe herself. Why did she even trust this sparrow to do something good? He’d somehow managed to find rare green mangoes she hadn’t seen anywhere in this city. He’d tracked down olives from god knows where. But he couldn’t find lemons—the one thing she’d actually asked for—that she’d seen in the market many times?

"I drew you a picture," Kaya said, her voice shaking with barely controlled rage. "I DESCRIBED it. Yellow or green. Sour. Small and round."

Sparrow chirped and pointed proudly at the mangoes.

"Those," Kaya said very slowly, "are mangoes. Which I specifically told you this morning were NOT lemons."

Sparrow’s proud expression wavered. He pointed at the olives.

"Olives," Kaya said flatly. "Also not lemons."

Veer was biting his fist to keep from laughing. Cutie had given up entirely and was staring at the wall like it held the answers to life’s greatest mysteries.

Kaya stood up, walked to the window, and pointed outside. "Out."

Sparrow chirped in confusion.

"OUT. NOW. BEFORE I TURN YOU INTO SOUP!"

Sparrow squawked in terror and flew out the window, leaving a trail of panicked feathers behind.

Kaya turned to the other two. "If either of you laugh, I’m breaking bones."

Veer immediately bit down harder on his hand. Cutie’s shoulders were shaking, but he kept his face carefully neutral.

"I’ll go get the lemons," Cutie said quietly.

Hearing that, Kaya just shook her head. "No, it’s okay." She wasn’t even in the mood to drink anything anymore.

She walked toward the pot she’d prepared earlier—the makeshift cooling system with the clay pots. She poured herself some water from the inner pot and drank. Oh God, it was cold. Thank God. It gave her some relief from the burning.

But she couldn’t understand it. Why was the water so cold to her touch, yet her insides felt like they were on fire? Her body was burning, but nothing made sense.

That night, as they sat down to eat, Kaya had no appetite again. She looked at Veer. "So, how did it go? Any followers?"

Veer nodded while taking a bite of raw meat. "Yeah, I saw some. More men were following me, but they were totally different from before. This time, they looked quite skillful."

Kaya nodded. "Oh, is that so?" She turned to Cutie. "What about you?"

Cutie also nodded. "Yeah, I saw some people following me too. Most of them were smaller beastmen. Easy to hide. Some were quick, some were slow. But I couldn’t identify most of their faces."

Kaya nodded again, then turned to look at Sparrow, who was probably waiting for his turn. But she just turned her head away.

What could she even ask? This person was like a ninja but memory?.... worse than a old man in death bed. One time, Kaya had seen him hiding. And believe it, this person hid really well. What type of person hides in their follower’s pocket?

She’d been walking forward, aware of the spies following her, and had warned the others to be careful. This bastard had rushed off to hide so fast he’d looked like a cannonball. And where had Kaya found him? Hiding inside the small bag hanging on the spy’s shoulder.

And not only that—this Mr. Perfect hadn’t even seen the spy’s face. Didn’t remember what was in the bag or anything. When Kaya had asked him later what was in the spy’s bag, who he was, or what he looked like, Sparrow had been completely blank. Nil. Empty. He didn’t know anything because he’d been so scared he’d kept his eyes closed the entire time.